


Fishy Adventure

by Yuletide (Zebra)



Category: Man from Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-22 06:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zebra/pseuds/Yuletide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mark and Elizabeth get called to help out with another criminal case, and this time there's something fishy about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fishy Adventure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LJC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LJC/gifts).



_It all started with a fish._

_When Mark looked back at the events of that week, he could understand what Elizabeth meant with irony and foreshadowing, but while it happened he could only wonder how weird the world above the ocean was and whether his one people were just as strange._

* * *

Mark concentrated on holding the fish as still as possible. The problem wasn’t the strength of the fish or how slippery it was. Not only was he far stronger than the fish, the fish had grown weak during the procedure and was more than less inert in his webbed hands. The problem was its large size. Elizabeth had called the fish a koi. Mark couldn’t remember knowing about koi. He had forgotten who he was, but he still remembered sharks and dolphins and all the other creatures in the ocean. He didn’t remember this kind of fish, Elizabeth had said that it wasn’t that surprising. Koi were freshwater fish, they wouldn’t survive in Mark’s world of saltwater.

Elizabeth fully concentrated on her task, not even looking up when a particularly loud sob came from the other side of the room. Polly was taking care of the distraught pair who had brought the koi in for operation. They had held the fish still when Elizabeth had started, but she had send them away when they gasped and questioned every move she made and kept getting in her way, petting the koi. Mark’s body was now blocking their view.

As Elizabeth made a grunt and gave a sharp tug, a violent shudder went through the fish.

“I have got it.” 

Firmly grasped in her pincers she held up a ring.

“Oh, can we see? How is Marvin?”

The pair came over and Elizabeth dropped the ring into the man’s hand while the woman was petting the fish.

“There’s no blood on the ring or in the water. I think I managed to get it out without doing any harm to Marvin. I’d still like to keep him overnight. I want to keep an eye on him in case something develops and the procedure meant a lot of stress for him. He should rest a bit, before he has to be put through the stress of moving back home.”

The pair wasn’t even looking at them, they were cooing at the fish, like it were a child.

“Certainly, Doctor Merrill. Will send his favorite food and the number of his doctor. If you think Marvin needs more expert help – not that we think you aren’t an expert, we are so happy that you could help us. Anyway, just tell us and we’ll have his doctor flown in from Japan. You can call us at any time, and if it’s right in the middle of the night.”  
“Yes, Doctor Merrill. Thank you so much. I have no idea how Marvin could have swallowed my wedding ring. It slipped right off when I fed him. I would have never forgiven myself, if Marvin had died. We got him on our first anniversary twenty three years ago. He was so small back then, he jumped right at my wife as we walked past the aquarium. Nearly died, the poor thing. We simply knew we had to take him with us.”

In this moment the building could have started burning, Mark wasn’t sure the two people would even notice, or if they noticed, their first worry would be their fish. It was strange to see so much dedication to an animal that other people ate.

When Mark said as much to Elizabeth, she looked worriedly at the pair and took him aside. He got the impression he had said something wrong.

“Koi aren’t eaten, they are kept for decoration and can be very expensive. But in this case, it’s not how much Marvin is worth in money, it’s the emotional value. When and how they got him was very symbolic for them and he’s like a member of the family. It’s very telling that they didn’t have Marvin cut up to get the ring out. Because the ring is another important symbol for their love for each other and their promise to be there for each other as long as they live. It’s the symbol of their marriage. And its material worth might be even greater than Marvins’.”

A marriage, that’s were Elizabeth had been when he had been asked to help with that caper. A childhood friend had invited her to the wedding. She had told Mark about weddings. C,W, had talked about weddings, too, when Mark had asked him about men and women. And because the bride and the groom loved each other, they kissed each other. Kissing Charlene had made him feel good, it had made him think. Kissing Charlene had been a little like having Elizabeth smile at him. 

Elizabeth had never kissed him. He wondered if it would make him feel as good as kissing Charlene had. He thought he might feel even better.

* * *

Earlier this morning Marvin had gone home. To Mark the koi had seemed quite unperturbed by the whole endeavor. Now he was dressing the wounds of a harbor seal which had been caught by a yacht motor. 

Elizabeth came back into the room when he was almost done. She looked worried.

“What did C.W. want, Elizabeth?”

She came over, stroking the sedated seal.

“We have been asked to help with another police investigation. If this continues, we’ll become a crime fighting foundation instead of an ocean research one.” 

The caper at the carnival had been interesting, but he didn’t want be in a similar situation again. If it involved the ocean, he knew what to do, where dangers and rescue lay. But at the carnival, he had been unsure how to react or contact C.W. when Moxie had changed the plan and threatened Charlene.

“In a restaurant a swordfish showed up with a fake dollar bill inside. The police wants us to discretely figure out where the swordfish got it.”

He knew about fake money. When they started at the Foundation for Ocean Research, he had started getting a salary and Elizabeth had taught him about money, checks, bank accounts and about counterfeit money and why that was a problem. 

“Why us? I thought the police have their own people to find counterfeiter.”

Elizabeth seemed put out, but no at him. He was getting better at knowing when the different emotions were meant for him and when they were about something or someone else. Although he didn’t always know how to read her or other people’s emotions. He had learned so much since Elizabeth had found him, but whenever he thought he was getting good at understanding about life on land, something unexpected happened.

“There’s the ocean involved, which you can get around far faster and far longer than their people, and you impressed them on that museum case. They made C.W. promise that even if you won’t come, at least I will, to help them find where that swordfish which ate the dollar bill came from. We are not to make contact with the counterfeiters, only to report to the police with what we find. They’ll give us cover identity anyway, not wanting to worry anyone with a marine scientist suddenly showing up and doing research into swordfish.”

She’d just come back from that wedding, he didn’t want to be separated from her again so soon. He wanted to help her. He liked working with her, learning what she knew about the ocean, telling her what he knew. Despite the police telling them to only find information, there was always the chance that something would go wrong, he could back her up or she him. 

“I do not want to be called for every case, but I want to help you. If you want me to, I will come with you and find those swordfish for you.”

Helping him move the seal next room so it could wake up in peace, Elizabeth told him that she was happy he had decided to come and maybe they’d finish early and get a few extra days of vacation out of it.

“But, Elizabeth, you just came back from vacation. Do you not like your work?”

She laughed.

“It was a wedding, the bride put me to work on the preparations. It was not a vacation.  
“The job here is great, I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else, but we never went somewhere else for a vacation. I thought it’d be nice to be somewhere unrelated to our work, and without any crazy scientists trying to obtain money or world domination.”

Their previous vacations right here had been pleasant enough in Mark’s opinion. They’d gone swimming together or driven around the nearby towns and country side. She had been as new here as he had been. He had liked their explorations. Even though they had to be cut short often, because she’d been called back to the Foundation for some emergency or another.

A vacation, just her and him, without any emergencies or C.W.

He looked forward to that.

* * *

The door to the hotel room closed behind them.

“I should have expected something like that.” 

Having started to look for the bathroom, Mark stopped and blinked at Elizabeth’s annoyed outburst, she had seemed surprised, but been pleasant enough to the woman at the reception desk. He didn’t feel to well, and hadn’t followed what they’d talked about, only been comforted by hearing Elizabeth’s voice and the prospect of a long shower.

“Is there a problem, Elizabeth?”

Turning towards him with that exasperated smile which told him whatever the problem was it wasn’t his fault.

“Nothing we can solve. I’ll tell you after you had some rest. Come. At least they got us a room with a large bathtub.”

She opened the door further and he was glad to see that the bathtub was about as large as the tank in the laboratory. The tank was a bit too cramped for his taste and he usually slept out in the ocean or at the Cetacean’s sea dock, but the bathtub would be better than a shower and the sink to get him through the night.

While the tub was filling, he finished undressing and listened to Elizabeth going about putting their baggage away. He wondered what this unsolvable problem was. Finally he stepped in, the water was colder than Elizabeth would have liked, but it suited him just find. While it wasn’t saltwater, it was pleasantly pure, unlike other tab water he had been forced to take recourse to which had been treated with all kinds of chemicals and which Elizabeth feared might do damage to his gills.

He sank down into the water, leaving the world behind him. A tank or bathtub was different from the ocean, the sounds were different. The world underwater was just as busy as the world above. In the bathtub there was only him and nothing else, it was a curious feeling. Sometimes it made him feel as if he was the only living creature in the world. Sometimes it felt like a respite not to have to listen to the people chatter or to the whales singing.

Right now it was a respite. They had flown in, the airplane had been crowded, far too dry and far too noisy. He had wondered how Elizabeth could have slept with all the noise around her. Although, she had worked the whole night preparing their trip, so she had deserved to sleep. Immediately after takeoff she’d fallen asleep and slept till the landing announcement sounded. At first her rest had been fitful and she’d moved around in her seat, but in the end she came to lay her head against his shoulder and her sleep had been quieter from then on.

Over his reminiscing he must have fallen asleep himself, because the next time be came aware of the far too quiet tub, he still had the hazy memories of having shown Elizabeth the Barrier Reef without her wearing any kind of breathing apparatus. She was a good diver, even without a respirator, but even she couldn’t stay down as long as his dreams had made it out.

After leaving the tub and only drying himself enough so that he wouldn’t drip everywhere, he went looking for Elizabeth. She wasn’t difficult to find, besides the bathroom there was only one other room and Elizabeth stood in front of the floor-length window, framed by the afternoon sun, turning around as he came into the room.

“How was your rest, Mark?’

“I slept well, Elizabeth, thank you. What is that unsolvable problem you want to tell me about?”

She sighed and came to him, picking up an envelope on the way. 

“Our cover, we are John and Jane Smith, here on our seventh anniversary.” 

With those words she shook the envelope and two rings dropped into her hand.

He picked up the ring and looked at it, it was a simple gold band.

“We are a married couple?” 

He didn’t quite see why that would be a problem, going by the married couples he’d seen, marriage didn’t seem so bad. They had been mistaken in stores for a married couple before, when they’d gone shopping for clothes for him. And he wouldn’t mind kissing her, he looked forward to it. But he wouldn’t be able to wear the ring, his webbing would be in the way. Would that be a problem, if he ever married?

Motioning as if he were to put on the ring, Elizabeth did the same. Hers was too small, she couldn’t get it further down her finger than he he could.

“It’s such an irony, giving us the cover of a married couple and the the biggest outward sign of the marriage doesn’t even fit.”

Before he could be sure, whether it was really disappointment he saw in her face, she went to the desk the envelope had lain on. It was covered with maps, she pointed at one.

“Given the local currents and the swordfish’s migration pattern, I think we should start to look for our money-eating fish here.”

Looking at where she pointed, he agreed with her. All swordfish would likely come through that region.

“I rented a boat, so lets if we can find any clues before it gets too late. Who knows if the counterfeiters or the fish we are searching for are still in the region.”

* * *

The sun was still high in the sky when they set out. Elizabeth expertly steering the little boat across the waves. Their scuba gear tied securely but visible for everybody who cared to take a look. They’d look like a couple out for a dive, their boat would be anchored in a likely and yet seldom used diving location, so nobody would wonder when they found an empty boat and no one close by. Their real goal lay two miles further out, Mark would bring them there in rapid order. 

But for now he still had to be patient for a few more minutes, endure the sun burning down on them. He felt hot in his jacket, which was better than getting a sun burn, and the sun was too bright, even with his glasses on.

“So, Mark, I never asked. How did you like the carnival?’

Going over their gear again, to make sure both their tags were in working order, although he didn’t need it, they’d take his has backup for Elizabeth’s gear, he answered her.

“It was an interesting experience. I liked the Ferris wheel, I could see so much of the world. I felt a bit like a sea gull in the wind, it was so different from the airplane. Freer, more colorful. There were so many people, I would have liked to talk to more of them without someone trying to electrocute me. We should visit it when it comes again. I can introduce you to Charlene, she owns the carnival.”

Elizabeth was slowing the boat down.

“Lets do that. I can’t remember the last time I was at a carnival. I wanted to take you to the one the year before, but than I was kidnapped by Doctor Smith. When I was young there was this one fair which had a merry-go-around with sea horses, I could never get enough of riding those.”

If he ever found a sea horse like Muldoon’s, he’d bring it back for her. If he could, they were, of course, not native to this dimension and if it came to bringing her one and returning it to it’s rightful place, he was sure Elizabeth would rather mourn the chance of not having seen a man-sized sea-horse than keep the creature from its home.

They had their boat secured and put on the scuba gear, although as far as Mark could see there was no one out here who would take notice if he just jumped straight in.

Nevertheless they followed proper procedures and only when they were several feet below the surface did he cut off the oxygen. He kept the kit on, grabbing Elizabeth under the arms. After she’d given him a thumbs up, he shot forward, knowing exactly where the current lay they were looking for. 

The ocean was singing around him. The sounds its creatures made, the noises of the engines of the boats and ships above. Occasionally he could hear the ping of a far away submersible. Closer by was the sound of Elizabeth’s gear, a reassuring even sound. The equipment was in working order, her breathing calm and unhurried, even at the speed they were going. After that first speed test of him against a dolphin, he had shown that he could keep to that speed for long distances. He couldn’t out run the Cetacean at top speed in a straight run. But at her normal cruising speed, he would sometimes swim alongside her when the Foundation’s submersible got too crowded and stuffy for him.

The big current was now dragging at him, he had felt the change some time ago. They were now right in its middle. 

Above them the engines of two fishing trawlers drowned out the other sounds of the ocean. Mark thought that they were too close together. Elizabeth was pointing at them, too. It took him a minute to figure out what she wanted, but then he followed her closer to the two ships. She was right, the two trawlers were probably pulled together in a maneuver he didn’t understand. Their engines were propelling them around each other while they slowly drifted with the current. 

It was possible that this was what they were looking for. If they got get the signatures of those ships, the police could find them later and conduct a thorough search.

They were almost to the surface when the light above them went out and with a loud crash something came down on top of them. He tried to get to Elizabeth, but in the torrent and the press of fish suddenly all around him, he lost her. 

Trying to get out seemed futile, there were so many fish. Dead, he noted. He rolled into a protective ball and let himself be swept away with them, after the bill of a swordfish had nearly impaled him.

Suddenly the pull was reversed, no longer were they going done. The fish and him with them went up and up, the press got tighter and tighter, till he thought he couldn’t breath anymore.

And then it was down again, he fell, breathing nothing but air.

For a split second he saw men on the deck of a boat, and then he hit deck. There was a sharp pain, he felt rattled and then there was only darkness.

* * *

The first thing he became aware of was the heat. There was hot air, smelling of dead fish, all around him. He felt parched. Breathing was so difficult and he felt like he was suffocating. His hands hurt and itched like he had been out of the water too long. Which was likely what had happened given his feeling of suffocation. 

Forcing his eyes open he noted that a little light filtered into the place from somewhere. He lay on steel, the ground was vibrating with the slightly uneven pounding of an engine.

By his reckoning he was in the holding tank of one of the fishing trawlers they’d seen. Painfully he turned over, closing his eyes, simply concentrating on breathing. He was suffocating. He couldn’t panic. He had to keep his breathing even, if he wanted to have chance to get out of here. 

Opening his eyes again, he saw Elizabeth. She lay just within his reach. Her scuba gear gone, the diving suit dry. There was blood on her brow. 

He reached for her, managed to grasp her hand. His breath was rattling in his ears. He tried to say her name, but no word came out of his dried out throat. 

He managed to squeeze her hand, barely. And was rewarded with her groaning. She moved her hand away, putting it onto the wound on her head. Her face was crunched up in pain. 

She was alive.

She opened her eyes.

“Mark! Mark, are you alright?”

No, he wasn’t and he didn’t need to tell her. He was sure she couldn’t see him clearly in the semi-darkness, she could hear his rattling breaths. Her own pains forgotten, she felt along his body.

“We have to get you out of here, you are completely dried out. Mark, hold on, I’ll find some way out.”

He squeezed her hand which was wrapped around his own, letting her know he had heard her and would try to do whatever she wanted of him.

She moved away then. Trying to follow her with his eyes would have been too difficult and so he closed them, concentrating on her steps echoing hollowly in the room. Once again it lay in her hands to rescue him. He remembered the first time he’d seen her. There she was, white and distorted against the blackness above. His breathing had felt painful then, but getting better as he looked at her. Seeing her look back at him in wonder. She had been the first thing he had seen, the first thing he could remember. He had touched her then, wanting to know what and who she was. His hand had broken the surface, weak from an ordeal he couldn’t remember. He could remember the air against his fingers, warmer than the water. And then he’d touched her arm, solid and there, something to anchor him in the torrent of questions he felt when he couldn’t find any memories of who he was and how he’d come here. 

The pain had been receding as he looked at her. He had felt comforted and as if a crushing weight had been taken off of him. 

That had been the first time she’d saved his life, it hadn’t been the last.

Now he could hear her banging against something, huffing in exertion.

“Mark, here’s a door. It’s claims to lead to the sea. I don’t know if that’s true. Just be be ready. I think I can get it to open.”

He could hear her keeping at her task. He gathered a strength he wasn’t sure he could muster. She’d probably have to drag him, but he could at least try to make it easier for her. Had to keep awake. If she got them into the water, he stood a better chance to get them away than she did. 

There was a loud bang as if an oversized gun had been fired. He heard Elizabeth start to scream and then the water was rushing in.

He was painfully hurled against the wall. Elizabeth stood no chance against this, he had to get her and get them out. He couldn’t wait for the rush of water to stop when the tank had filled sufficiently. Elizabeth didn’t have that much time.

Managing to secure himself with a handhold on the wall he looked around. He could see her, whirled about by the incoming torrent. He fancied that she was moving, trying to get herself out of the water and not just thrown around like a rag-doll. 

Having found her, he fought against the water. Fought inch by inch and then foot by foot. The torrent lessened as the tank filled.

He had her then, felt her lose the last of her breath, breathing water then. He held onto her, propelled them to the door she had opened. She was holding onto to him, clawing at him. He could breath air for a time, usually had enough time to get into the water when he ran out of breath. She didn’t have that time, she had to breath now.

They were free of the tank, he shot straight up.

They broke the surface.

He breathed air and was utterly happy when he could hear Elizabeth choking water. There was nothing much he could do beyond keep her above water as her body did all it could to violently expel the water and suck in the much needed air.

The sun was coming up. They had been aboard that ship the whole night.

Occasionally Elizabeth was still coughing, but he didn’t think she was in immediate danger any more. She lay limply against him, letting him hold them up above the water. 

The fishing trawler was listing slightly. Soon someone aboard would become aware that they had a problem with their ship.

“Elizabeth, we have to get away. Can you hold onto me?”

She nodded weakly and moved.

The grasp of her arms around his neck and her legs around his body wasn’t as strong as he would have liked. He kept hold of one of her arms with his hand and started swimming. Slowly gaining speed as he became sure that she could manage to hold on.

Swimming half above the water was awkward, but he managed, headed towards land and the sun rising above it.

* * *

They were back with the Foundation, both having come out of their adventure with minor injuries only. The police had managed to catch their counterfeiters. The two fishing trawlers had been indeed involved in the operation. One contained the printing presses and caught fish, which then got stuffed with the printed money They threw the fish back into the water for the other trawler to catch right back up. The counterfeiters had deemed that as the fastest way to transfer fish from one of their trawlers to another.

Elizabeth came into the laboratory from the sea side, she was massaging her hands, having had to write a detailed report of what had happened.

“Mark! If you want to, we are going to visit your carnival and go on vacation.”

“Ah, make that a Honeymoon!”

There’s was man standing in the door, C.W. stood behind him looking embarrassed. The man held a swordfish wrapped in a bow in his hands. Two rings had been put onto the swordfish’s bill.

He shared a look with Elizabeth, but she was as clueless as he was.

“I heard you lucky people stayed as a married couple at a hotel in our fair town. I’m happy to inform you, according to the local law, you are now legally married. Here’s the congratulatory swordfish, I hope we got the ring sizes right. You may kiss the bride now.”

☙End❧

* * *


End file.
